Bottom-up hiring could perpetuate pay bias.

Here's something to consider when you're creating hiring policies for a large, multi-location enterprise. There's a danger that wages may appear to be discriminatory if the hiring process is centralized, but decisions about starting pay are made locally, without regard to broader corporate compensation scales. The risk: Class-action lawsuits.

Recent case: Jody and Julia were both hired as management-level employees at national burger chain Five Guys. They both worked for corporate-owned...